Path to Promise: An Earthly Traveler's Guide to Divine Destinations

Path to PromiseAn Earthly Traveler's Guide to Divine Destinations

by Sherryle Kiser Jackson

I’ve just completed my second installment of my Land of Promiscuity story titled Path to Promise due out this fall. To arc my main character from an indiscriminate lifestyle to that of focused-favor, I had to figure out a thing or two about what we like commonly call, vision, purpose or promise.

The path to promise is not a Utopian street paved with gold where four friends skip off to find a solution to life’s problem from a wizard. Sometimes, it’s much like Moses and the children of Israel depending on manna from Heaven and meeting real consequences based on their faith or lack thereof.

*You’ve got to be on the path. You’ve got to seek out and pursue your purpose daily. It’s intuitive, but as far away from your comfort zone as possible. It is the full extension of yourself. The path takes you to the point where your gifts and talents don’t just serve you, but become part of your service to others.*Decide your direction. I would tell people a bit of truth with a hint of accusation when promoting my last novel, Land of Promiscuity. Simply put, if you’re not headed toward promise, you’re headed toward promiscuity. There are a lot of distractions out there. You cannot avail yourself to everyone and everything. The word distraction (dis/tract/ion) loosely broken down means the act of (ion)being pulled or dragged (tract) into the opposite direction (dis). . You were given a gift marked fragile or an assignment marked important. Careless, haphazard and constantly distracted is not the way to promise.

The Path to Promise, I’m coming to understand, is not always a lateral move to the side, and to the side again. Matter of fact, beware of your lateral moves when God is trying to promote you. The path to promise can be perilously steep. Expect an uphill climb; you are going to the next level, for goodness sake. Don’t assume you will always be on sure footing. You need grappling hooks and a pickaxes to quite literally get a grip sometimes. Sometimes you just have to hold on until you get a foot hole to help you inch up a little further. I imagine the challenge for a mountain climber is not which way is up. Keep your eyes on the prize. They know exactly where the next peak or summit is located. They need stamina and perseverance, and so do you when on the path.

*Mind the company you keep while on the path. Everyone has their own path marred with their own obstacles. Sometimes our paths cross, or we, be it by choice or circumstance become traveling partners for part or the entire journey. Build your support system, but don’t forget to give. Examine your relationships while on the path and break from each and every enabling or co-dependent relationship. We can sometimes support one another to the sacrifice of our own goal or depend on one another to heavily like a crutch. Learn to walk straight before you both permanently walk with a limp or smother each other’s promise.

Will and Rebecca's story continues. There’s a difference between running scared and running free.

Rebecca Lucas is on the run again, running from rumors, running from reality, and most of all, running from Will, her best friend and soul mate. This time Rebecca is ready to reclaim the life she left behind in Salisbury before the burial of her mother and the handling of her mother’s estate. Only to find that the time away has done little to alleviate her biggest problem – her co-worker, Kenny Burke and the indecent proposal he pitched to her before leaving town. She’s back, and he uses every resource at his disposal to get her to go along with his plan.

Will Donovan, the man left in the trail of Rebecca’s taillights and exhaust fumes has a few problems of his own. His father’s secrets have left the senior Pastor Donovan ousted from his long time position as leader of Grace Apostle Methodist Church, and Will with one foot in the door. As a mandate of the church board, Will must apply and compete for his dad’s job. He ends up vying for that job along with the very charismatic and well-connected heir of televangelist fame, Danny Glass Jr.

Will seems to be the only one questioning why his opponent is on his turf when he has his own father to succeed and struggles with the integrity of his decisions in an effort to carve out his own identity in ministry.

For Will and Rebecca, the Path to Promise is far from a Utopian street paved with gold. Will their paths marred with their own obstacles cross and lead them to the promises of God?

Ever since high school, Rebi Lucas has not led a discreet lifestyle. She has grown accustomed to using her body as a bargaining tool. Although more than a few men have known her physically, only one man has dared to love her as a true friend. Now Rebi must return to her hometown after her mother's death to face that man.

William Donovan is now the assistant pastor of Grace Apostle Methodist Church, adjacent to her family's home estate. He's devoted to helping Rebecca heal old wounds and rediscover her passion when she returns home. As they are settling her mother's estate, Rebi and William unearth a generational curse that threatens to dismantle their carefully built love affair.